BM 

155 

.M49 

1907 


j  2,1^/0^ 


^#* 


s^ 


^i  i\\t  ®l?fOl0gffa/  ^ 


'*, 


'*- 


PRINCETON,  N.  J 


% 


BM  155  .M49  1907 
Meyer,  Louis,  1862-1913 
The  American  Jew 


The  American  Jew 


"By^ 


REV.   LOUIS   MEYER 


Ajjijtant  Editor  of 


^he  Missionary  ^e'VieW  of  the  World 


PxEPRINTED     FROM 

The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World 

DECEMBER,     1907 

By  Friends  of  the   Chicago   Hebrew  Mission, 
22   Solon   Place,   Chicago,  Illinois 


FUNK     &     WAGNALLS      COMPANY 

NEW    YORK    AND     LONDON 


IPI.N-AIK     SHia'I'IN(,     IX     Tin.      IKWISH     OUAKTF.R,     NEW     VOKK 


HKtilNNING 


3USINESS    ON     Tin-;     KAST     SIl 
NEW    YOKK 


JEWISH     FIRMS    ESTARLISIIED    ON    JiliOADWAY. 
EVERY    FLOOR    OCCUPIED    BY    JEWS 


THE    JEWISH    ROAD    TO    WEALTH    IN    AMERICA 


891 


THE    AMERICAN    JEW 

BY    REV.     LOL'IS     M  KVKK 
Assistant  Editor  of  the  Missionary  Review  ok  the  World 

America  is  i)redominantly  a  Chris-  of  Columbus,  and  when  Santangel 
tian  country  and  we  must  strive  in  assured  her  that  the  needed  seven- 
every  way  to  bring  the  Gospel  to  ev-  teen  thousand  florins  were  in  the 
ery  immig-rant  who  comes  to  our  treasury,*  that  she  sent  Columbus  on 
shores,  and  to  the  vast  multitudes  his  journey  of  discovery.  Upon  the 
which  are  already  settled  over  the  caravels  which  made  that  eventful 
wide  country.  The  American  Prot-  first  trip  to  America  were  a  number 
estant  churches  have,  to  some  ex-  of  Maraiios,  prominent  among  them 
tent,  become  aware  of  their  duty  to-  the  physician  and  the  surgeon.  It 
ward  the  hosts  coming  from  Italy,  was  a  Jewish  sailor,  Rodrigo  de 
Hungary,  Bohemia,  Poland  and  Triana.  who  from  the  lookout  dis- 
countries  of  the  Levant,  and  mis-  covered  the  faint  outlines  of  the 
sionary  work  among  these  Roman  longed-for  land,  at  the  very  moment 
and  Greek  Catholic  masses  has  been  when  despair  began  to  conquer  the 
begun.  But  one  element  of  this  courage  of  the  men.  AMien  the  boat 
great  nation,  the  large  and  increas-  was  low^ered  to  take  ashore  men  who 
ing  Jewish  population,  has  been  for-  were  to  seek  the  natives  and  to  en- 
gotten  almost  entirely,  in  spite  of  ter  into  communication  with  their 
the  fact  that  it  has  become  a  factor  chiefs,  Luis  de  Tores,  the  Jewish  in- 
of  great  importance  in  our  national  terpreter  of  Oriental  languages,  was 
life.  One  great  reason  for  this  neg-  among  its  crew,  and  was  sent  ashore 
lect  is  lack  of  information  concern-  before  the  others.  Thus  the  history 
ing  the  American  Jew  and  his  need  of  the  American  Jew  begins  with 
of  the  Gospel.  These  people  should  Columbus'  discovery  of  America, 
not  be  overlooked.  Luis   de   Tores   settled   and   died   in 

Cuba. 

The  Arrival  of  the  Jew  in  America  t^         <~     x.    •      •      « 

Four  Centunes  m  America 

The  Jew  set  foot  upon  American  Jews,   chiefly   Spanish   Jews   from 

soil    before    Columbus,    whose    jour-  Holland,  were  on  the  muster  rolls  of 

ney  of  discovery  was  made  possible  soldiers  and  sailors  who  were  sent  out 

only    through    the    generosity    of    a  from    Holland    to    New    Netherlands 

Maraiio   (secret  Jew),  Luis  de  Sant-  during  about  the  middle  of  the  seven- 


angel,  the  Treasurer  of  Aragon. 
Queen  Isabella  did  not  pawn  her 
jewels  to  secure  the  money  for  the 
intended    trip    of    exploration.      She 


teenth  century.  On  November  9th, 
1654,  Jacob  Barsimson  arrived  in  the 
ship  Pear  Tree  in  the  harbor  of  New 
Amsterdam  (now  New  York).  Soon 


declined  to  aid  the  eager  explorer  in  after  he  was  followed  by  a  party  of 

any    way    because    there     was     no  twenty-three  Spanish  Jews,  who  ar- 

money  in  the  treasury.     It  was  only  rived   in   the   bark   St.   Catariiia   and 

when    Luis    de    Santangel.  and    (ia-  were  fleeing  from   P.razil.  because  of 

briel  Sanchez,  another  Maraiio.  urged 

*  6he  never    knew    what    we    know   to-day,   viz 

U])(>n   ller  the  im])nrtance  of  tllC  plans  that  Santangel  forwarded  this  money. 


892 


THE    MlSSKJtXAKV    REVIEW    OF   THE    WORLD 


December 


Portuguese  persecution.  Peter  Stuyve- 
sant,  the  sturdy  governor,  wanted 
these  Jews  excluded,  but  the  direct- 
ors of  the  Dutch  West  India  Com- 
pany refused  to  accede  to  his  re- 
quest, and  on  April  26th,  1655,  they 
wrote  to  him  as  follows : 

After  many  consuhations,  we  have  de- 
cided and  resolved  upon  a  certain  pe- 
tition made  by  said  Portuguese  Jews, 
that  they  shall  have  permission  to  sell  and 
trade  in  New  Netherlands  and  to  live 
and  remain  there,  provided  the  poor 
among  them  shall  not  become  a  buraen 
to  the  company,  or  the  community,  but 
be   supported  by   their   own   nation. 

Faithfully  the  Jews  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada  have  adhered  to 
the  conditions  of  this  permit  during 
the  many  years  which  have  passed 
since  it  was  written.  The  Jews  were 
not  at  first  permitted  to  erect  a  syna- 
gog.  They  were  excluded  from  em- 
ployment in  public  service,  and  they 
were  not  allowed  to  open  retail 
shops.  Later  these  strict  laws  were 
changed,  and  in  1664,  when  New 
Amsterdam  was  captured  by  the 
English  and  became  New  York, 
more  Spanish  Jews  began  to  arrive. 
They  gradually  made  their  way  into 
all  of  the  original  thirteen  colonies, 
and  their  number  was  augmented 
by  German  Jews,  who  began  to  ar- 
rive about  the  second  quarter  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  Revolutionary  War 
they  had  reached  positions  of  honor 
in  commerce  and  society  in  a  num- 
ber of  communities.  During  that 
war  the  American  Jew  by  his  con- 
duct splendidly  contradicted — as  he 
has  always  done — that  cruel,  false 
statement  of  Renan,  "The  Jew  will 
never  be  a  patriot ;  he  simply  dwells 
in  the  cities  of  others."     There  were 


only  a  few  more  than  2,000  Jewish 
souls  in  America  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  war.  Init  many  of  them  es- 
poused the  cause  of  liberty,  and 
more  than  one  hundred  Jewish  offi- 
cers and  men  served  during  the  Rev- 
olution. From  1 86 1  to  1864  be- 
tween 7.000  and  8,000  Jews  saw  ser- 
vice on  both  sides,  among  them  nine 
generals  and  eighteen  colonels,  tho 
there  were  less  than  200,000  Jews  in 
the  whole  country.  During  our  late 
conflict  with  Spain  4,000  Jews  were 
enlisted  in  our  army,  while  thou- 
sands more  ofifered  their  services. 

In  the  American  regular  army  and 
navy  a  considerable  number  of  Jews 
have  always  been  found,  while  in  the 
legislative  halls  and  in  the  institutes 
of  learning,  in  commerce  and  in  lit- 
erature, the  American  Jew,  during 
the  nineteenth  century,  rendered  to 
the  country  of  his  adoption  or  his 
nativity  services  which  have  been 
largely  in  excess  of  his  proportionate 
share. 

The  American  Jew  of  To-day* 

I.   His  X limbers  and  His  Distribution 

The  great  immigration  of  Russian 
Jews  commenced  in  the  beginning 
of  the  eighties  and  added  a  new  ele- 
ment to  the  few  Spanish-Portuguese 
Jews  and  to  the  German-Jewish  ele- 
ment which  had  been  reinforced  by 
Polish-Dutch  and  Dutch-English 
tributaries  since  1820,  and  by  Hun- 
garian. Bohemian,  Moravian  and 
Polish   Jews   after    1848.      Thus   for 


*  We  use  freely  the  following  books  and  articles: 
"The  Russian  Jew  in  the  United  States,"  edited  l>y 
Charles  S.  Bernheimer,  Ph.D.;  "The  Great  Jewish 
Invasion,"  by  B.  J.  Hendrick,  in  A/cCiure's,  January, 
iqo-j;  "Israel  Unbound,"  by  James  Creelnian,  in 
Pfarsoii's,  February  and  March,  1907;  "The  Jewi-sh 
Encyclopedia,"  and  others,  besides  our  own  statis- 
tical figures. 


1907 


THE    AMERICAN"    JEW 


893 


the  past  twenty-tive  years  the  Jew- 
ish population  in  the  United  States 
has  rapidly  increased.''^  The  number 
of  Jews  in  the  United  States  is  esti- 
mated as  high  as  2,000.000,  after  all 
a  small  number  if  compared  with  the 
total  of  our  population  of  80,000,000. 
But  its  importance  lies  in  the  man- 
ner of  its  distribution.  These  2,000.- 
000  Jews  are  not  scattered  over  the 
wide  area  of  our  country,  but  are 
chiefly  settled  in  certain  cities.  Thus 
Greater  New  York  has  to-day  an  es- 
timated population  of  1,000.000.  Chi- 
cago of  180,000,  Philadelphia  of  100,- 
000,  Greater  Boston  of  80,000,  St. 
Louis  of  50,000,  Greater  Pittsburg 
of  45,000,  Baltimore  of  35.000,  Cleve- 
land of  35.000,  San  Francisco  of  :^^,- 
000.  Cincinnati  of  30,000,  Minneapo- 
lis and  St.  Paul  of  28,000.  and  so  on. 
In  almost  all  these  cities  the  Jewish 
masses  live  voluntarily  in  certain 
circumscribed  quarters,  cities  within 
cities,  powers  within  powers.*  The 
congestion  in  these  Jewish  quarters 
is  terrific,  but  in  none  is  it  greater 
than  in  the  largest  and  oldest  Jew- 
ish quarter  of  New  York.     Upon  an 


*  This  Russian  Jewish  element  was  composed  of 
I^ithuanian,  Volhynian,  Bessarabian  and  other  con- 
stituent.s,  and  of  Galician,  Polish  and  Rumanian 
tributary  streams,  but  it  defies  analysis. 

•Thus  in  New  York  the  1,000,000  Jews  are  set- 
tled in  four  great  Jewish  quarters,  tho  Jews  in 
larger  or  smaller  numbers  are  found  in  every  part 
of  the  great  city.  The  largest  and  oldest  of  these 
quarters  is  bounded  by  the  East  River,  Catharine 
street,  the  Bowery  and  Houston  Street,  and  contains 
400,000  Jewish  :„habitants.  The  Uptown  quarter  is 
bounded  by  86tl.  Street,  Fifth  Avenue,  120th  Street 
and  the  East  Ri"er,  and  contains  200,000  Jews.  The 
Williamsburg  quarter  contains  150,000  Jews,  while  the 
Brownsville  quarter  is  inhabited  by  75,000  Jews. 
Chicago  I ewry  according  to  Philip  Davis)  is  scat- 
te  ed  all  over  the  south  side  as  far  as  63d  Street,  on 
the  epst  and  northeast  side  up  to  the  Lake,  the 
no  thwest  cide  and  the  west  side.  Acco'ding  to 
es  imates  made  by  Christian  workers,  there  are  on 
the  northwest  side  about  30,000  Jews,  while  there 
are  at  least  75,000  Russian  and  Polish  Jews  in  a  dis- 
trict bounded  by  Polk  Street,  T6th  Street,  the  river 
and  Ashland  Avenv-.e. 


area  of  less  than  one  s(iuare  mile  live 
more  than  400,000  Jewish  men, 
women  and  children.  That  is  equiv- 
alent to  625  of  them  to  each  acre,  or, 
to  make  the  congestion  still  plainer, 
if  the  houses  of  the  district  were 
razed  and  all  the  men,  women  and 
children  placed  upon  the  level 
ground,  each  one  would  have  48 
inches  square  to  live  and  move  in. 
Thus  the  old  Jewish  Ghetto  of  the 
City  of  New  York  is  the  most 
densely  populated  part  of  the  earth. 
According-  to  Paulding*  there  are 
twenty-eight  public  schools  in  that 
district  which,  on  October  ist,  1903, 
contained  61,103  Jewish  children 
(out  of  a  total  of  64,605).  It  is  es- 
timated that  in  New  York  185,000 
Jewish  children,  in  Chicago  40,000, 
and  in  Philadelphia  20,000  were  en- 
rolled in  the  public  schools  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  school  year,  1907. 

2.    Raf^id  Increase  in  Xumbcrs 

This  large  Jewish  population 
which  has  come  to  our  shores  mostly 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years, 
continues  to  increase  rapidly.  In 
1899,  37.41  S  Jewish  immigrants  en- 
tered; in  1903,  76,203;  in  1904,  106,- 
236;  in  1905,  125,000;  in  1906,  150,- 
846  (in  New  York,  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore  alone)  ;  and  in  1907  (the 
year  closes  on  July  1)  about  200,000. 
Thus  there  has  been  a  rapid  increase 
of  the  Jewish  population,  especially 
in  New  York,  where  65  per  cent,  of 
all  Jewish  immigrants  have  settled. 
Attempts  are  now  being  made  to  in- 
duce our  Jewish  newcomers  to  settle 
in  new  fields  and  to  scatter  over  the 
country,  but  we  doubt  the  success  of 
these  attempts. 


*  Quoted  in  Bernheim's  book. 


8y4 


THE    MISSION. \RV    RKVIF.W'   OF   THE    WORLD         |l)eceiul)cr 


3.  Grozciiig  IiiHiiciicc  and  Pozcer 

The  Jewish  element  has  not  only 
increased  in  influence  and  ^)o\ver  in 
proportion  to  its  increasing"  num- 
bers, but  the  American  Jew  has 
reached  a  position  of  influence  which 
is  far  beyond  that  which  is  propor- 
tionate to  his  numbers.  To  the  stu- 
dent of  the  Jewish  character  there 
is  nothing"  strange  in  this  achieve- 
ment, for  the  two  great  characteris- 
tics of  the  Jewish  race  throughout 
the  world,  but  especially  in  Amer- 
ica, are  ambitious  perseverance  and 
tenacity,  and  thus  it  comes  that  a 
greater  percentage  of  Jews  reaches 
positions  of  influence  and  power 
than  of  any  other  race  represented 
in  our  great  commonwealth.  This 
becomes  first  apparent  in  the  spheres 
of  education  and  of  learning. 

(i)  /;;  Science  and  Learning.  Of 
the  large  numbers  of  Jews  in  the 
public  schools  of  our  cities,  a  sur- 
prizingly  large  number  graduate  and 
enter  into  the  high  schools  and  col- 
leges, where  they  reach  a  high  level 
of  scholarship  and  carry  off  a  large 
number  of  the  honors.  The  propor- 
tion of  Jewish  students  in  almost  all 
our  higher  institutions  of  learning  is 
large,  and  in  New  York  the  Jewish 
students  sometimes  outnumber  the 
Gentile.  For  instance,  75  per  cent, 
of  the  students  in  the  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York  are  Jews,  wliile 
more  than  75  per  cent,  of  the  stu- 
dents in  the  Normal  College  of  New 
York  are  Jewesses.  In  Columl)ia 
University  the  Jews  formed  nearly 
half  of  the  university  body  of  stu- 
dents in  February.  1907.  In  one 
class  forty-five  out  of  less  than  a 
hundred    students    were    Jews.*      A 


*  New  York  Stni.  February  i6tli,  11107. 


large  proportion  of  these  Jewish  stu- 
dents.in  the  higher  schools  of  learn- 
ing, on  account  of  their  hunger  for 
knowledge,  their  ambition,  and  their 
persevering  tenacity,  graduate  with 
highest  honors  and  step  into  posi- 
tions of  trust.  Creelman  states  that 
there  are  about  3,000  Jewish  hnvyers 
and  nearly  a  thousand  Jewish  physi- 
cians in  New  York.  Among  the  law- 
yers is  found  the  great  Samuel  Unt- 
ermeyer  while  five  Hebrews  are 
members  of  the  New  York  Supreme 
Court.*  Judge  Otto  A.  Rosalsky,  of 
the  Court  of  General  Sessions  of 
New  York  (Criminal),  furnishes  a 
splendid  example  of  the  rapid  rise  of 
a  Russian  Jew,  for  he  carried  a  bas- 
ket as  a  butcher's  boy  only  seven- 
teen years  ago.  But  the  American 
Jew  comes  to  prominence  not  only 
in  the  City  and  the  State  of  New 
York,  for  in  almost  every  state  of 
the  Union  they  are  found  in  posi- 
tions of  high  honor  and  trust  and 
show  themselves  worth's'. 

Many  professorships  in  universi- 
ties and  colleges  are  occupied  by 
Jews,  for  we  find  in  Johns  Hopkins 
two,  in  Columbia  three,  in  Univer- 
sity of  New^  York  one,  in  University 
of  Pennsylvania  two.  in  University 
of  WTscor.sin  one,  in  University  of 
Chicago  s'x,  in  Harvard  one,  in  Uni- 
versity of  California  two.  in  Univer- 
sity of  Missouri  out-,  in  I'niversitv  of 
Minnesota  one.  in  University  of 
Michigan  one,  while  a  still  larger 
number  are  assistant  professors  or 
instructors.  Hut  enough  has  been 
written  to  pro\e  that  an  extraordi- 
nary large  proportion  of  our  Jewish 
population  has  risen  into  prominence 
in  educational  circles. 


*  Justices  r,evintritt,  Newberger.  Eriaiiger,  Greeii- 
baiim  and  Hirschbero. 


iyo7j 


THE   AMERICAN    JEW 


895 


(2)  Poxvcr  in  Commerce.  In  the 
business  world  the  success  of  the 
Jew  can  scarcely  be  surpassed.  In 
cities  small  and  large  he  has  settled, 
has  entered  into  commerce  and  in 
many  places  now  rules  the  trade.  In 
Philadelphia  three  out  of  five  of  the 
largest  department  stores  are  under 
Jewish  control,  in  Chicago  all  but 
two.  But  in  New  York  the  tremen- 
dous power  of  the  American  Jew  in 
commerce  becomes  the  most  appar- 
ent. Along  both  sides  of  Broadway 
for  a  mile  and  a  half,  in  the  down- 
town business  district,  Jewish  names 
predominate  upon  the  signs,  and 
Weston,  in  "The  Present  Condition 
of  the  Jews  1904,"  states  that  "in  dry- 
goods  there  are  514  Jewish  firms 
rating  $58,000,000;  in  clothing  264 
firms  with  a  rating  of  $34,000,000 ; 
while  the  rating  of  2,018  general 
firms  is  $207,388,000.  Fifth  Avenue, 
the  former  aristocratic  thorough- 
fare, has  become  a  thoroughly  Jew- 
ish business  street  from  14th  to  23d 
Street.  Hendrick  states  that  in  the 
last  five  years  not  far  from  $15,000,- 
000  has  been  invested  in  new  Fifth 
Avenue  buildings  to  provide  accom- 
modations for  hundreds  of  Jewish 
clothing  manufacturers,  who,  a  few- 
years  ago,  started  in  the  dingy  Jew- 
ish (piarter  on  the  east  side.  The 
Jew  controls  the  clothing  trade  ab- 
solutely in  New  York,  and  employs 
175,000  men,  who  annually  turn  out 
more  than  one-half  of  all  the  wear- 
ing apparel  in  the  United  States — a 
])roduct  valued  at  $300,000,000. 

In  New  York  there  are  thirty-five 
Jewish  banking  houses,  while  in  the 
stock  exchange  a  host  of  Jewish  men 
stand  high.  In  the  real  estate  field  the 
Jew  has  outdistanced  all  his  compet- 
itors,  as   Hendrick   has  well   shown. 


"Not  far  from  1,000  apartments  and 
tenements  are  built  in  New  York 
every  year,  involving  an  investment 
of  about  $60,000,000.  This  enormous 
business  is  almost  entirely  in  Jewish 
hands."  Haskin  has  made  the  state- 
ment that  the  Jews  own  $900,000,- 
000  worth  of  property  in  New  York 
alone,  and  that  the  Jewish  whole- 
sale houses  do  a  yearly  business  of 
more  than  a  billion.  There  are  now 
at  least  one  hundred  and  fifteen  Jew- 
ish millionaires  in  America,  a  num- 
ber slightly  above  the  ratio  of  popu- 
lation. In  the  section  of  New  York  ^ 
from  60th  to  90th  Street,  and  froni 
Lexington  to  Park  Avenue,  there  are 
said  to  be  at  least  five  hundred  Rus- 
sian and  Polish  Jews  whose  fortunes 
range  anywhere  from  $100,000  to 
$1,000,000. 

In  the  shopping  district  of  Sixth 
Avenue,  New  York,  all  the  larger  de- 
partment stores  belong  to  Jewish 
capitalists,  while  the  American  the- 
ater can  be  called  "controlled"  b>' 
such  Jewish  men  as  Klaw  and  Er- 
langer,  Belasco  and  Frohmann. 

Many  distilleries  of  America  are 
in  the  hands  of  Jewish  owners,  and 
Weston  states  that  $50,000,000  of 
Jewish  capital  is  employed  in  the 
New  York  jewelry  trade,  and  also 
that  with  this  money  full  thirtv- 
three  per  cent,  of  all  the  business 
done  is  tran.sacted.  Thus,  in  com- 
merce and  finance,  the  American 
Jew  holds  a  commanding  position. 

(3)  In  the  Public  Press.  Eighty- 
two  Jewish  periodicals  were  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States  in  1904, 
and  a  number  of  Yiddish  daily  pa- 
pers are  printed  in  the  larger  cities. 
Five  of  the  daily  newspapers  are 
published  in  New  York,  and  the 
combined  circulation  of  all  the  Yid- 


896 


THl'.    MlSSioXARV    REVIEW    Ol"    THE    WORLD  |  DeceniDer 


dish     newspapers     is     estimated     at 
350,000  copies. 

Many  of  the  great  dailies  of  our 
country  are  owned  by  Jews.  Adolph 
Ochs,  a  few  years  ago  a  poor  boy  in 
Chattanooga,  owns  the  Philadelphia 
Public  Ledger,  the  New  York  Times, 
and  the  Chattanooga  Times.  The 
Hungarian,  Joseph  Pulitzer,  owns  the 
New  York  World  and  the  St.  Louis 
Post-Dispatch.  The  New  York  Press 
is  owned  by  Henry  Einstein,  the  Balti- 
more Neivs  by  Franklin,  the  Omaha 
Bee  by  the  heirs  of  Rosewater,  the 
San  Francisco  C//ro;;/r/t'  by  De  Young, 
and  so  forth.  The  daily  press  of  our 
country  in  a  remarkable  degree  de- 
•  pends  upon  Jewish  editors  and  re- 
porters, who  are  brilliant  and  pa- 
triotic writers  of  great  versatility,  but 
of  whom  naturally  no  Christian  sen- 
timent can  be  expected  in  their  wri- 
tings. 

(4)  In  American  Politics.  The 
American  Jew  has  had  a  brilliant 
record  in  politics  in  the  United 
States.  Six  Jews  have  been  in  the 
United  States  Senate  since  the  Gov- 
ernment was  founded,  viz :  Yulee 
from  Florida,  Benjamin  from  Louis- 
iana, Jonas  from  Louisiana,  Simon 
from  Oregon,  Rayner  from  Mary- 
land and  Guggenheim  from  Colorado. 
The  last  two  are  serving  now.  In  the 
57th  Congress  of  the  United  States 
were  five  Jewish  members,  viz :  Gold- 
fogle,  Kahn,  Knopf,  Littauer  and 
Meyer,  while  in  many  of  the  state 
legislatures  are  Jews.  Oscar  S.  Straus 
is  now  Secretary  of  Commerce  and 
Labor  and  is  the  first  Jew  in  the  United 
States  to  hold  a  Cabinet  portfolio, 
while  William  Loeb,  secretary  to  the 
President,  exerts  probably  as  much 
power  as  a  member  of  the  Cabinet. 
More  than  2.000  Jews  are  in  t)ie  em- 


ploy of  the  Government.  Samuel 
(jompers,  the  labor  leader,  is  also  a 
Jew. 

In  our  larger  cities  the  Jewish  pop- 
ulations have  become  great  factors  in 
politics,  and  they  are  conscious  of  their 
power.  There  are,  however,  no  Jewish 
leaders  who  could  deliver  the  Jewish 
ballot  under  certain  conditions,  for  the 
Jew  is  singularly  independent.  But 
the  racial  instinct  is  so  great,  the  same 
feeling  dominates  the  Jewish  hearts  so 
much,  that  only  in  rare  cases  the  Jew- 
ish vote  is  divided.  These  cases  where 
it  has  become  divided  have  served  only 
to  reveal  its  tremendous  influence. 
New  York  politicians  have  confirmed 
our  opinion  that  Hearst's  defeat  in  the 
election  of  November  6th,  1906,  came 
to  pass  largely  because  the  Jewish  vote 
was  divided,  a  large  number  of  the 
common  people  following  the  leader- 
ship of  the  Yiddish  press  and  support- 
ing that  party  to  which  the  President 
belongs,  who  had  shown  such  tender 
consideration  of  their  race  by  an- 
nouncing that  he  would  make  Mr. 
Straus  a  member  of  his  Cabinet  on 
January  ist,  1907. 

(5)  hi  Benevolent  JVork.  No  other 
single  race  spends  as  much  money  for 
the  poor  in  proportion  to  their  number 
as  the  Jewish.  In  New  York  alone 
the  total  assessed  value  of  Jewish 
asylums,  hospitals,  educational  institu- 
tions and  religious  buildings  is  more 
than  $10,000,000.  The  United  Hebrew 
charities  in  almost  all  our  larger  cities 
are  model  institutions  and  Jewish  set- 
tlement work  is  well  organized.  Kin- 
dergartens and  sewing-classes  are 
established  everywhere,  and  aids  to 
self-improvement  are  liberally  pro- 
vided for  the  poor.  The  American 
Jew  is  a  liberal  giver,  not  so  much,  we 
believe,  because  he  is  more  benevolent 


1907] 


THE   AiMERICAX   JEW 


897 


than  others  by  nature,  but  because 
charity  is  intimately  connected  with 
his  rehgion. 

4.    American  Judaism 

It  is  impossible  to  give  a  complete 
description  and  definition  of  American 
Judaism  in  a  brief  space.  To  the 
Christian,  American  Jewry  presents  a 
wonderful  fulfilment  of  Hosea  iii.  4,  5. 
The  landless  and  the  kingless  nation 
abides  without  a  knowledge  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace,  without  repentance, 
without  conviction  and  forgiveness  of 
sin,  and  in  spiritual  blindness. 

American  Reform  Judaism  is  a  mix- 
ture of  Unitarianism  and  intellectual 
Rationalism,  which  elevates  philosophy 
above  religion.  It  clings,  at  least  out- 
wardly, to  the  great  Jewish  Holy  Sea- 
sons, to  the  name  Jew,  and  in  the  ma- 
jority of  its  followers  to  circumcision. 
Its  adherents  expect  the  coming  of  the 
Messianic  age  (not  of  a  Messiah), 
when  justice  will  reign  supreme  and 
love  will  bind  man  to  man.  In  many 
of  its  prayer-books  all  sacrificial  pray- 
ers are  omitted,  and  laws  and  statutes 
are  set  down  according  to  the  present 
time. 

American  Orthodox  Judaism  has  its 
adherents  mainly  among  those  who 
not  long  ago  came  to  our  shores  from 
the  densely  populated  Jewish  districts 
of  Eastern  Europe  where  Talmudism 
still  has  a  strong  hold  upon  the  people. 
Tenaciously  it  clings  to  the  letter  of 
the  Law,  and  the  Old  Testament  is 
crowded  out  by  the  Talmud.  It  wastes 
its  strength,  as  has  been  well  said,  in 
laborious  triflings  and  unprofitable 
acuteness,  for  which  the  Talmud  alone 
is  responsible.  The  six  hundred  and 
thirteen  precepts,  contained  in  the  Tal- 
mud, control  and  govern  the  life  of  the 
Orthodox  lew  and  decide  even  c|ues- 


tions  of  the  highest  moment  for  him. 
Orthodox  Judaism,  as  well  as  Reform 
Judaism,  undoubtedly  teaches  salva- 
tion by  good  works,  for  the  adherents 
of  both  are  taught  that  fasting,  prayer 
and  alms  take  the  place  of  sacrifices. 

While  thus  the  older  Jewish  ele- 
ment in  America  still  adheres,  to  some 
extent,  to  the  tenets  of  Orthodox  or 
Reform  Judaism,  a  pitiful  state  of  af- 
fairs predominates  among  the  younger 
element  in  the  larger  cities.  There  is, 
according  to  Bernheimer,  a  very  ap- 
preciable number  of  fairly  well  edu- 
cated young  people  who  have  left  the 
Jewish  religion  of  their  Orthodox 
parents.  To  them,  and  also  to  the  nu- 
merous more  ignorant  and  cynical  ele- 
ment of  the  Jewish  population,  the 
Jewish  faith,  with  its  ceremonies  and 
restrictions,  is  ridiculous  and  con- 
temptible. "Pleasure,  and  not  duty, 
being  their  watchword,  all  that  ham- 
pers freedom  or  self-indulgence,  is  a 
kill-joy  to  be  avoided.  Therefore,  the 
dance  hall,  the  vaudeville  theater,  the 
card  game,  the  prize  fight  are  places 
of  frequent  resort.  The  synagog,  the 
lecture  hall,  the  concert  room,  the  de- 
bating club,  are  not  visited  to  any  ex- 
tent by  this  particular  portion  of 
Young  Israel."  Thus  the  religious 
state  of  large  masses  of  young  Amer- 
ican Jews  is  pitiful. 

5.    The  Dark  Side  of  the  Picture 

A  decline  of  a  religion  which  con- 
tains as  much  truth  as  Orthodox  Juda- 
ism, must  be  accompanied  by  moral 
decay,  and  thus,  while  a  proportion- 
ately large  number  of  American  Jews 
has  risen  during  the  last  decade,  vice 
and  crime  have  entered  among  them 
where  hitherto  they  were  little  known. 
At  the  thirty-third  annual  meeting  of 
the  Young-  Men's  Hebrew  Association, 


898 


THE   MISSIONARY    REVIEW   OF   THE   WORLD         |  December 


held  at  g2d  Street  and  Lexington  Ave- 
nue, New  York,  on  January  24th, 
1907,  Judge  Otto  A.  Rosalsky  stated 
that  he  had  observed  that  crime  was 
largely  increasing  among  the  young 
folks  of  his  race.  "I  am  sending  more 
and  more  young  rascals  to  jail,"  he 
said.  And  thus  he  uncovered  the  piti- 
ful state  of  the  younger  Jewish  people. 
Bernheimer  states:  "Thirty  years  ago 
the  conviction  of  a  Jew  for  a  felony 
was  almost  unheard  of  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  To-day  there  is  not  one 
penal  institution  within  the  area  of 
Greater  New  York  which  does  not 
harbor  some  offenders  of  the  Jewish 
people."  "Eight  per  cent,  of  the  pris- 
oners at  Blackwell's  Island  Peniten- 
tiary are  Jews.  At  the  workhouse  at 
Blackwell's  Island  less  than  2  per  cent, 
of  the  2,ooo  inmates  are  Jews."  "In 
the  House  of  Refuge  on  Randall's 
Island,  there  were  two  hundred  and 
sixty  Jewish  boys  and  girls  in  Novem- 
ber, 1904.  In  the  Juvenile  Asylum 
there  are  two  hundred  and  sixty-two 
Jewish  children  under  sixteen  years." 
What  is  true  of  the  criminal  institu- 
tions of  New  York  is  true  of  most  of 
the  criminal  institutions  throughout 
our  land.  Compared  with  the  ratio  of 
Jewish  population  in  the  different 
l)arts  of  the  United  States,  it  still  re- 
mains an  uncontrovertible  fact  that  the 
ratio  of  Jewish  criminals  is  consider- 
ably lower  than  that  of  the  general 
population,  1)ut  the  cause  for  alarm 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  Jewish  popula- 
tion of  our  ccnmtry,  to  whom  legal 
misdemeanors  were  in  the  past  almost 
unknown,  is  beginning  to  fall  into 
moral  decay. 

Bernheimer  thinks  that  the  crowded 
life  of  the  streets,  the  absence  of 
proper  home  training,  and  the  loss  of 
religion,  are  the  reasons  for  this  decay, 


and  he  pleads  for  "a  leader  possessing 
eloquence  and  personal  magnetism  and 
the  power  of  teaching  by  example  the 
value  of  a  religious  life  as  interpreted 
by  the  teachings  of  Judaism  in  its 
modern  form."  While  we  agree  with 
the  reasons  assigned  in  Doctor  Bern- 
heimer's  work,  we  disagree  with  him 
concerning  the  remedy.  Judaism  can 
not  lift  these  fallen  ones  up,  neither 
Orthodox  nor  Reform  Judaism.  A 
rigid  preaching  of  and  adherence  to 
the  Ten  Commandments  can  lift  men 
to  a  very  high  pinnacle  of  morality, 
but  it  can  not  save  them.  "Whosoever 
shall  keep  the  whole  law,  and  yet  of- 
fend in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of  all." 
By  faith  in  Christ  only,  are  men, 
whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,  saved. 

But  we  must  touch  a  still  more  pain- 
ful subject,  viz:  the  tremendous  in- 
crease of  prostitution  among  the  Jew- 
ish girls  in  our  larger  cities.  We  will 
not  detain  our  readers  with  a  discus- 
sion of  the  reasons  for  this  degrada- 
tion, except  that  we  call' their  attention 
to  a  remarkable  statement  made  by 
Turner,*  in  which  he  names  as  one  of 
the  four  interests  concerned  in  the  ex- 
ploitation of  prostitution  in  Chicago 
"the  men— largely  Russian  Jews — 
who  deal  in  women  for  the  trade."  He 
also  says :  "The  largest  regular  busi- 
ness in  furnishing  women,  however,  is 
done  by  a  company  of  men,  largely- 
composed  of  Russian  Jews,  who  sup- 
ply women  of  that  nationality  to  the 
trade.  These  men  have  a  sort  of 
loosely  organized  association  extend- 
ing through  the  large  cities  of  the 
country,  their  chief  centers  being  New 
York,  Boston,  Chicago  and  New  Or- 
leans. In  Chicago  they  now  furnish 
the  great  majority  of  the  prostitutes  in 


*  See  article,    '  Tlie  City  of  Chicago,"  in  A/rC'/un 
April,  1907. 


1907 


THE    AMERICAN'    Il'AV 


89(; 


the  cheaper  district  of  tlie  west  side 
levee,  their  women  having  driven  out 
the  EngHsh-speaking  women  in  the 
last  ten  years." 

We  hesitate  to  accept  the  statement 
of  some  slum-workers  that  prostitu- 
tion increases  among  the  American 
Jewesses  at  a  higher  rate  than  among 
the  women  of  any  other  nationality  in 
our  country,  but  we.  and  every  close 
observer  of  the  life  in  the  crowded 
Jewish  tenement  districts  of  our  larger 
cities,  must  acknowledge  the  existence 
of  a  large  number  of  Jewish  prostitutes 
in  the  United  States.  Reader,  nothing 
but  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  can  lift 
them  up  from  a  life  of  shame  and  save 
them. 

6.    TJic  American  Jc:^'  and  Chrisfianify 

(I)  Attitude  of  the  Leaders.  We 
must  carefully  discern  between  the  at- 
titude of  the  leaders  and  the  attitude  of 
the  common  people  toward  Christ  and 
Christianity. 

The  attitude  of  the  leaders  in  gen- 
eral is  one  of  some  peculiarity.  They 
praise  Jesus,  are  proud  of  his  Jewish 
birth,  and  speak  of  the  doctrines  con- 
tained in  his  speeches  and  parables  as 
ideal,  but  they  deny  his  divinity  and 
thus  make  him  an  impostor. 

Christianity  to  most  of  them  is  noth- 
ing but  a  system  of  doctrines  devel- 
oped by  Paul,  and  they  reject  its 
tenets.  They  are  bitterly  opposed  to 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the 
Jews,  reiterating  continually  that  we 
live  in  a  free  country  and  that  Chris- 
tians have  no  right  to  disturb  their 
peace  by  the  establishment  of  missions 
among  them.  The  Jewish  leaders 
deny  the  fundamental  truth  that  ours 
is  a  Christian  country  and  that  our  in- 
stitutions are  Christian.  They  there- 
fore oppose  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in 


the  ])ublic  schools  by  distributing 
broadcast  their  pamphlet,  "Why  the 
Bible  Should  not  be  Read  in  the 
Public  Schools."  They  are  determined 
in  their  efforts  to  have  all  Christmas 
celebrations  or  entertainments  relative 
to  the  day  prohibited  in  the  public 
schools.  Jewish  members  of  the  Cal- 
ifornia Legislature  liave  succeeded  in 
barring  the  name  of  Christ  from  the 
prayers  of  the  chaplain,'^'  while  the  two 
Jewish  members  of  the  Colorado 
Legislature  failed  in  a  similar  at- 
tempt.f  Thus  by  their  acts  the  Amer- 
ican Jewish  leaders  contradict  their 
oft-repeated  saying,  with  which  they 
oppose  Christian  missions  to  the  Jews, 
"Leave  us  alone,  for  we  are  leaving 
you  alone."  Well,  w-e  have  left  them 
very  much  alone,  for  we  have  only 
played  at  Jewish  missions.  But  have 
they  left  us  alone? 

(2)  The  Common  People.  While 
some  Jews,  especially  those  wdio  have 
come  from  lands  like  Russia  and  Ru- 
mania only  lately,  are  still  filled  w'ith 
tremendous  prejudices  against  Christ 
and  Christianity,  it  can  be  well  said 
that,  in  general,  the  attitude  of  the 
large  Jewish  masses  in  the  United 
States  is  an  attitude  of  inquiry.  They 
have  tried  Judaism,  and  were  not 
satisfied  in  the  bondage  of  Talmudism, 
nor  did  they  find  satisfaction  of  heart 
in  the  rationalistic  teachings  of  the 
reform  rabbis.  They  have  tried  social- 
ism and  philosophy,  but  in  their  hearts 
there  remains  an  unsatisfied  longing 
for  something  better.  Thus  they 
eagerly  accept  and  read  suitable  Chris- 
tian literature  and  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments in  their  language. 

The  prejudices  of  the  masses  against 
Christian  missions   to  the   Jews   have 


*New  York  H'oy/if.  Januarj'  iS,  1907. 
t  New  York  World,  February  19,  1907. 


()00 


THE    MISSIOXARY    REVIEW    OF   THE    WORLD 


Jecenibei 


greatly  decreased  during  the  past  ten 
years.  All  Jewish  missions  in  the 
United  States — alas,  there  are  but  few 
of  them — report  crowded  meetings  for 
men  and  serious  attention  to  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel.  The  women's 
and  the  children's  classes  are  also  well 
attended.  In  short,  it  is  the  old  story 
of  the  time  of  Christ.  "The  common 
people  heard  him  gladly." 

Naturally  this  attitude  of  inquiry 
leads  to  more  frequent  conversions 
and  baptisms  among  the  American 
Jews.  In  regard  to  these  conversions 
Oscar  S.  Straus  *  made  recently  the 
following  statement :  "The  very  few 
Jews  who  change  their  religion  do  so 
from  unworthy  motives."  Mr.  Straus 
thereby  gave  expression  to  a  statement 
contradicted  by  figures  and  by  facts. 
Some  years  ago  '■'  we  showed  that 
5,208  Jews  were  baptized  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada  between  1870  and 
1900,  while  from  1895  to  1901  the 
number  of  Jewish  baptisms  in  the 
same  countries  was  1,072.  As  far  as 
ascertainable,  2)2?)  Jews  were  baptized 
in  1905,  and  376  in  1906  in  America. 
These  figures  are  by  no  means  small, 
tho  they  must  be  incomplete  in  a  coun- 
try where  baptisms  are  not  officially 
recorded. 

In  regard  to  the  unworthy  motives, 
we  scarcely  need  to  contradict  such 
slander.  The  American  Jew  can  not 
gain  any  temporal  advantage  by  join- 
ing the  Christian  Church,  for  baptism 
does  not  enhance  social  condition  in 
this  free  country.  The  Hebrew  Chris- 
tian in  America  gains  to  some  extent 
the  ill  will  of  his  Jewish  kindred  and 
in  some  cases  their  bitter  persecutions. 
He  is  met  with  sneers  and  insinuations 
by  the  Jewish  leaders,  and  he  is  met 


*  In  an  interview  published  in  the  Cincinnati  Timn 
Slar,  October  26,  1906. 

*  MissioN.\RY  Review,  December,  1002. 


with  suspicion  by  the  great  mass  of 
Gentile  Christians,  until  he  has  proved 
himself.  Thus,  only  the  grace  of  God 
can  cause  a  Jew  to  face  the  difficulties 
and  profess  Jesus  Christ  before  the 
world.  There  may  be  some  who  are 
moved  by  unworthy  motives,  but  they 
soon  turn  back  and  their  names  are 
found  upon  the  rolls  of  Christian 
churches  a  short  time  only.  The  present 
ecclesiastical  statistics  disprove  Mr. 
Straus'  statement,  for  eighty-nine  He- 
brew Christians,  men  who  were  con- 
verted when  of  age,  are  to-day  or- 
dained ministers  of  Protestant  de- 
nominations in  America,  while  four- 
teen Hebrew  Christians  serve  the 
j\Jaster  in  the  foreign  field  as  mission- 
aries employed  by  American  mission- 
ary boards.  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them." 

In  Conclusion 

We  have  tried  to  present  the  Amer- 
ican Jew  with  his  virtues  and  with  his 
faults.  He  is  a  man  and  sinner,  even 
as  others,  but  he  has  not  received 
Christ  and  His  Gospel  and,  therefore, 
is  without  eternal  life.  Think  of  his 
virtues  and  his  power :  what  a  desir- 
able member  he  would  make  of  the 
Church  of  Christ !  Think  of  his  faults 
and  of  his  degradation,  and  remember 
that  only  Christ  can  overcome  them. 
Think  of  the  multitudes  of  Jews 
coming  to  America,  to  be  added  to 
those  masses  already  here,  and  re- 
member that  unto  you  and  me  the 
Lord  has  given  the  wonderful  privilege 
and  the  great  commission  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature.  That 
command  includes  the  Jew.  Remem- 
ber that  the  Gospel  of  Christ  "is  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  ever} 
one  that  believeth ;  to  the  Jczv  first, 
and  also  t(^  the  Greek." 


